Pokemon: Real Black
by Dane Kemp
Summary: Set in the "real world," things are able to be done which the game wouldn't allow. Please Read and Review, I can't wait to see 'em! Rated K for Cartoon Violence
1. Obtain The Starter Pokemon!

NOTE: Contrary to popular belief, "Tepig" does not mean "Teh pig," rather, it's a portmanteau of "Tepid" (meaning "lukewarm") and "pig." Also, Snivy is not a portmanteau of "Snide" and "Ivy," but rather "Snake" and "Ivy."

Quick edit (10/15/2013): Changed the distinct Japanese name of "Tohya" to the more western "Thomas" to fit in with the rest of the story's cast. Will edit later chapters to reflect this. Also did some minor edits.

* * *

><p>Today was the day Bianca, Cheren and I got our Pokemon. I was going back to my mom's place after a nice visit with my dad when I saw Professor Juniper coming out of my mom's house. <em>Awesome, they're here!<em> I thought as I changed my course to Bianca's house. When I got there I flung the door open.

"Guys, they're at my place," I shouted at my two friends, the only two kids in the village that were my age, who happened to be playing Modern Warfare 3 online multiplayer.

"We'll be right there." Bianca said, keeping her eyes glued to the screen.

I shrugged and walked back home, a short walk in our tiny village. I went up to my room, where a big green present with a red ribbon atop it sat waiting for someone to open it. I was tempted to open it without my friends, but decided against it. They'd wait for me, so I should do the same.

I had heard stories of trainers from Professor Juniper, who in turn, had heard stories from her grandfather, who happened to be Professor Oak of Pallet Town in the Kanto region. The main story she would tell was of Red, the boy who not only beat Team Rocket, but also the Elite Four, as well as catch all 151 Pokemon found at the time. Like him, I wanted to go down in history as the boy who caught all 646 Pokemon. Since Red beat the Elite Four, strange things had gone on in the different regions - some sort of odd mutations, and it created 495 new species, about 151 new species per decade. But I was determined. Yes, I would catch them all.

It wasn't until after this thought that Cheren walked in.

"Ooh, look at that," he said, finding the box I was looking at eye-to-bow. "Bianca said she would be here soon. I'm just here because I ran out of lives." I looked at him, wondering what kind of lives he was talking about. "It's a new mode," he said, seeing my reaction. "There's a life mode. Once you run out, you're kicked out of the game. However, it's only per person, not per console, so Bianca can still play until she runs out."

"Oh. Sounds cool. Well, aside from the fact that Bianca isn't here yet."

We sat in silence for a few seconds, when Cheren spoke up.

"You know, I've been thinking..."

"That's dangerous," I said before he could finish.

"Yeah, whatever - shut up. Anyway...I wanna be there very best...you know, like no one ever was. Catching them - Pokemon - that's my real test, but training them is my cause. But to catch them all I'm gonna have to travel across the land - searching far and wide. But you know what? I'm gonna do it. Do you know why? Cause I wanna go down in history as the one who catches all 464 Pokemon that have been found so far."

I stiffened when he said this.

"But of course, my Pokemon are going to have to be strong. So Thomas...I'm going to pick the Pokemon that is strong against yours. Of course, I already know Bianca is going to pick the Pokemon that yours is going to be strong against, so I'll let her pick before me, but just remember that."

I looked at him.

"Jerk..." I said silently.

"Yep, that's me," he said pushing his glasses back a more comfortable position, and smiling. Bianca chose that moment to enter.

"Bianca, how could you be late to getting your first Pokemon?" Cheren asked.

Modern Warfare 3 is amazing! I couldn't just pause it..."

"Yes, but you'll get to battle with _real_ Pokemon in a few minutes!"

"Pff, whatever. FPS's are cooler."

"Guys," I said, butting in. "Pokemon?"

Cheren looked at Bianca.

"Okay, Thomas. It's your house, you get first pick." I dipped my head in thanks and walked over to the box.

Opening it, I saw 3 Pokeballs sitting at certain intervals on a circle. Next to the red and white balls were scraps of paper with a picture and the name of the Pokemon contained in the small sphere. The paper nearest to me had a red and black pig, which looked like it was smiling. Underneath, a black font said "Tepig." It looked cool, but I wanted to see all of my options, so I looked at the paper of the right Pokeball.

This paper had a blue and white otter, which looked like it had serious business and didn't want to play around. "Oshawatt" was the name under the picture. It looked okay, and I sorta wanted it, but I looked at the final Pokemon.

The picture showed a smug green and white two-legged lizard-ish thing. It held its nose in the air in a snobbish fashion. Underneath the picture the letters spelled out "Snivy." I didn't feel like I wanted this Pokemon...

'I was turned off by Snivy, and Tepig was cute, but I felt that Oshawatt was better. I picked up Oshawatt's Pokeball and turned to the others.

"Next."

Bianca came forward and looked.

"Ooh, I want Tepig!" she exclaimed, shooting her arm in the box and snatching up Tepig's Pokeball. She turned around.

"'Kay, Cheren, you're next. You get the last one!"

"Fine, I wanted Snivy anyway..." He said grabbing Snivy's red and white spherical cell.

Bianca bounced up and down.

"Let's battle now, let's battle now!"

"That's not really the best idea..." Cheren told her cautiously.

"Whatever. What damage could these small Pokemon do, anyway?"

I nodded, then lifted my Pokeball, poised to throw it.

"Oshawatt, come on out!" I yelled, throwing the Pokeball.

The baseball sized sphere flew out of my hand faster than what I wanted it to. It bounced off of the wall and hit a lamp on my bedside table, sending it falling to the floor. The ball itself bounced on the floor, where a beam of red light snaked out, a small form appearing. The ball rolled back to me as if it had a mind of its own. Oshawatt stood where he had been released, looking around.

"Osha-osha," he said.

Bianca looked at Oshawatt.

"Awesome! Now it's my turn." She cocked her arm back, and threw. Her throw was extremely off target and the ball flew into my flat panel TV and bounced to the far wall. The TV started to tip.

'"No!" I yelled at the TV, hoping maybe it would hear me and start un-tipping. Cheren moved quickly and stopped it, then set it gently face down on the floor - possibly the safest place at the moment. Meanwhile the ball bounced off of the wall and hit a picture of my dad and I playing baseball, knocking it off balance. The last bounce on the ground in front of Bianca's feet released Tepig.

"Tepig," it said, looking at its surroundings.

"Oshawatt," said Oshawatt

I looked at Bianca.

"Be more careful next time!"

"Sorry."

"Okay, are we ready?"

"Yep."

Tepig and Oshawatt joined with their respective calls.

"Okay guys, begin," Cheren said, starting us off.

"Oshawatt, use Tackle!" I yelled.

"Oshawatt!" Said the already charging Oshawatt.

Bianca seemed to be taken by surprise.

"Tepig, dodge the attack," she yelled, a little too late. Oshawatt tackled Tepig, slamming them both into a wall, straightening the picture of my dad and I.

"Oshawatt, retreat." I said, going for the guerrilla warfare style. Oshawatt backed up from Tepig, who was slowly getting up. I smiled. Good, that shook 'em up a little. I knelt down to talk with Oshawatt.

"I want you to flank him." I said to him quietly. "I'll have you move to the side, then tackle when I tell you, okay?"

"Watt." He said back, quietly.

"Okay, go." He started running as I got up.

"Okay, Oshawatt, Tackle!"

Oshawatt turned and ran directly at Tepig.

"Tepig, dodge," Bianca said again, and this time, Tepig had enough time to dodge.

"Okay, now tackle." Bianca commanded, and Tepig hit Oshawatt in the side. Oshawatt was slammed into my bedside table, where he slid down so that only his head was leaning against it.

"Osha-" he said.

"Come on Oshawatt!" I yelled. "Let's keep on going!"

Oshawatt got up, and looked at me for its next orders. I got an idea.

"Oshawatt, come here!"

Oshawatt started moving towards me, and got about halfway when I decided to put my plan into action.

"Use Tackle!" I yelled, seemingly out of the blue. My little otter turned mid-stride, aiming straight for Tepig. The attack happened so fast, neither Pokemon nor Trainer had time to react. Oshawatt slammed into Tepig, sending the pig into the side of my bed. It worked itself back up, only to fall back down.

"Come on, Tepig! Get up!" Bianca pleaded. This gave the small pig a small boost of energy, and it got up again. Hope regenerated in Bianca. "Tepig, tackle Oshawatt!" The little pig burst from the bed.

"Oshawatt, dodge!"

The gap between the two Pokemon was microscopic, but by the result you could see that Tepig had missed, if only by a little. I was relieved, but I had to finish this.

"Oshawatt, finish this with tackle!" I yelled before Tepig could recover from his missed attack. Oshawatt slammed into Tepig for the last time, and the pig flew onto my desk, knocking everything off of it. The Pokeball in Bianca's hand shuddered and a red beam of light snaked out, engulfing Tepig, then retracted, leaving my desk empty. Oshawatt retracted too, weary from the battle.

"Here, I'll heal them," Cheren said, his hands out. Bianca and I handed him our red and white spheres. He turned around for a second, then handed the balls back. He looked at me. "Now it's my turn." He looked around the room. "But I'll try to not make the room any messier."


	2. Fight The Main Rival!

"Snivy, come on out," Cheren said coldly as he dropped the Pokeball. The green lizard I saw on the picture earlier appeared on the floor.

"Go Oshawatt!" I yelled, throwing the Pokeball across the room. It slammed into the opposite wall, missing Cheren's head by only a few inches, and bounced back. It hit the floor in front of me, released Oshawatt, and landed back into my hand. I decided to start the battle. "Oshawatt, use Tackle!"

Oshawatt instantly went into action, taking off towards Cheren's Pokémon.

"Snivy, dodge." Cheren spoke without emotion, knowing full well his Pokémon would get out of the way in time. In fact, it did, and my little otter missed by a long shot. "Now use Tackle." Snivy whirled around and shot towards Oshawatt.

"Dodge!" I yelled, after I realized that Snivy was about to hit Oshawatt. Oshawatt moved and was missed by a hair. "Okay, Tackle again, Oshawatt!" My blue otter turned around, took no more than two hops, and tackled the green Pokémon. I did a fist-pump. "Yes!"

"You moron, this isn't over yet," Cheren said icily as Snivy got up and shook itself.

"Snivy!" It chirped in what could be described as a fired-up way. It was then that I realized this would _not_ be easy.

"Oshawatt, come here!" My Pokémon bounced over to me. I looked at Cheren. "Give me a second."

"Only a second."

"Thanks." I bent down. "Okay from now, it'll be harder. Think you can do it?"

"Osha!" Oshawatt said, giving a little nod.

"You're gonna need to be faster, can you do that?"

"Osha!" Another reassuring nod."

"Okay, I'm counting on you." I stand up and look at my opponent. "Alright, I'm ready."

Cheren nodded and said, "Then I'll open it up this time. Snivy, use Vine Whip."

My eyes went wide. "Snivy knows Vine Whip already?!" I yelled out. But I already had my answer. Snivy shot out vines from its back, heading at a high speed towards Oshawatt.

"_Oshawatt, Dodge!_" I yelled at Oshawatt. He jumped and only milliseconds later the vines lodged into the floor where he had just been, sending a few splinters flying.

"Quickly, use Tackle!" Oshawatt landed on the vines and quickly ran up them. Snivy retracted the vines in a flash, making Oshawatt fall to the floor. It was only a few centimeters, but it was enough for Cheren to have Snivy Dodge the attack with room to spare.

"Snivy, Tackle."

I was confused, why use Tackle when Vine Whip would be more effective? It didn't make any sense, but I needed to get back to the battle.

"Oshawatt, Dodge!" The otter started to bound away.

"Snivy, Vine Whip!" The vines extended towards Oshawatt again.

_Crap, that's what he had hoped for._ I thought quickly.

"Oshawatt, Tackle!" Oshawatt stopped and turned mid-Dodge and headed towards the green Pokémon. There was no time for Snivy to react, and my Pokémon slammed into Cheren's, sending it flying into the wall near me—vines following and hitting it, dealing double damage (or at least I hoped they would). Snivy still got up, stumbling a little as it did so.

"Snivy, Vine Whip." Vines shot out of Snivy's back again, making a sick _crishk_ sound as they protruded through her back.

"Oshawatt, Dodge." Oshawatt bounded out of the way.

"Now Tackle, Snivy."

I don't know if you can imagine this, but as Snivy started to run towards Oshawatt, her vines were still out and it looked really odd. It looked like green demon wings were coming out of Snivy's back, so it looked like this really ugly-looking dragon was fighting.

I wasn't about to let Cheren flank me again.

"Oshawatt, Tackle!"

"Snivy, Vine Whip!" The already-half-way-out vines shot out and slapped my Pokémon. Hard. He flew across the room, and crashed into my dresser. He got up and shook his head.

"Oshawatt, are you okay?"

"Osha!" came the reply.

'Then Tackle!" Oshawatt sprang towards Snivy.

"Dodge." Snivy jumped out of the way easily.

"Now use Water Gun!" Oshawatt stopped, turned around, and forcefully spit water out of his mouth—aimed at Snivy.

"Are you a moron?" Cheren asked, his voice flat in a not-caring tone and a sly grin on his face. "That's not going to be very effective."

But as Oshawatt finished his attack and the water hit Snivy, I yelled, "Let's finish this with Tackle!"

My little otter sprinted towards the preoccupied lizard, who was befuddled by the stream of water that had just hit it. Cheren had no time to react, and Snivy flew across the room, hitting the wall and knocking the picture above it sideways so that it threatened to fall.

It did.

The picture fell five and a half feet and hit the green Pokémon, leading to the final KO.

I threw my fist up in victory so hard I jumped a little.

"Good job, Osawatt! We won!"

"Osha!" He happily cried, as he bounded over to me.

I petted him saying, "Good job out there, buddy."

He closed his eyes in contentment as I applauded his work. I looked over at Cheren, who had a disgusted look as he retrieved his Pokémon and put it in its ball.

"Hey Cheren, good match." I said this to him, completely meaning it.

"Whatever, that's easy to say when you're the winner." He looked at me with what seemed like hate.

"Yeah, possibly. But you still fought hard. You are a worthy opponent." I gave him a smile to show I truly meant it. He turned around and started to head downstairs.

"Come on Bianca, let's go apologize to Thomas's mother."

Bianca showed a little surprise. "Huh? Oh…okay." She turned to me. "See you down there," she said, then followed him down the stairs, leaving me alone with Oshawatt.

"That was some battle. Are you doing okay?" I asked him, remembering the tough hits he had taken.

He just gave me a nod. "Osha."

"Glad to hear it. Now, I'm gonna have to stick you back in your ball okay?"

He tilted his head, then shook it.

"Osha, Osha."

"But you have to go in there; you'll be really wild if you're not in there. I mean, I don't have a leash for you…."

His eyes looked like they were pleading for me to keep him out of his ball. After a few seconds, I gave in.

"Fine, you can be free. However, you're going to stay within a 7 meters of me, okay?"

"Osha!"

I smiled, then looked around at my room. My smile dropped. "Oh man, I gotta clean this?!"

"Nope, I'll do it. You need to go talk to Professor Juniper."

I look at the stairs, where my mom was looking at me with a big smile.

"You're serious?" I asked, wide eyed, plus I'm sure my mouth was opened in shock.

"Very. Go ahead, I'll take care of your room. This is a special day and all."

A tear welled up in my eye as I walked over and gave her a huge hug. "Thanks mom," I whispered. We separated and she gave me a smile.

"It's no problem. Now hurry, your friends are waiting."

I smiled back, then turned to Oshawatt. "You ready for this?"

"Osha!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry guys. This story wasn't really on my "keep working on" list, so it's been seriously neglected. As of now I have a job that works me on overtime, and I have another writing project, so it may take a while for chapter 3. Please review and tell me how I did on my second ever fight scene! Thanks!<strong>

**Quick Edit (10/15/2013): Changed "Tohya" to "Thomas" and made some minor edits.**


	3. Get The Pokedex!

I walked outside, Oshawatt bounding behind me like an energetic Lillipup. I watched Bianca enter her house as Cheren walked towards Professor Juniper's house/lab. I followed Bianca in order to make sure Cheren wouldn't leave her behind. If it had been just him and I, he could have told Professor Juniper that Bianca's father hadn't allowed her to go, but if was just him it would be near impossible to bluff that both she _and_ I didn't get permission.

I walked in the door to hear, "NO, NO, and a thousand times, NO!"

"But dad! I'll be careful! And I'll even be with my friends! PLEEEEEEEAAAASSSSSE?"

"No, and I'm not telling you again."

Suddenly a voice a little higher than Bianca's came from upstairs.

"Dad! Could you come here a sec? I need you to help me get unstuck!"

"Fine I'll be right up," he called up the stairs. He looked at Bianca and shook his head warningly. "You're not going anywhere." He walked up the stairs to go help the owner of the young-sounding voice; Bianca's little sister.

"Come on, Thomas. We've gotta go now; before he comes back," Bianca whispered, looking at the stairs where her father had been before. She looked at me. "Wanna bet Cheren's already got permission and is at the professor's house already?"

"No; I know he's already there. There's no point of losing money on a bet you already know the answer to." I stated plainly as I turned and walked out the door, a paranoid-looking Bianca close behind.

We walked to the professor's house where Cheren was leaning on it outside. He gave us a cold grin, trying to be warm in front of Bianca.

"You guys ready?"

"Yeah!" Bianca and I said at the same time; though hers contained much more enthusiasm.

"Alright, let's all go in together." Cheren opened the door and we all held hands. Then we took a step into the professor's house/lab.

It looked a lot like a lab in the living room area, which was the room we stepped into. Giant machines and small test tubes were scattered around the small room. Randomly colored lights and buttons flashed, begging to be looked at or pressed.

In a corner stood the professor, her green dress and red hair reminding me of a TV show I had seen in my childhood; something about a magic school bus or something. What character did she remind me of? It was the teacher; Ms. Frazzle-Dazzle or something. It was a long time ago that I last saw the show.

Regardless, the human Christmas light bulb turned around as she heard us enter.

"Ah, hello everyone." She saw Oshawatt at my feet and Cheren's Snivy-filled Pokeball on his belt. "I see you have picked out your Pokémon. Have you battled at all yet?"

Cheren and I nodded, but Bianca blurted out, "We all had a blast, though Thomas won both rounds."

Cheren chuckled and I grinned sheepishly. Prof. Juniper looked at me with a "proud teacher" look.

"Wow, Thomas; I'm impressed. Congratulations." She praised, as I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed.

"Really, it was quite a fight, but my little buddy here is pretty tough." I tried to switch back on track. "Now, why have you called us here?"

Professor Juniper put her finger up as if she remembered something. "Ah yes. As Thomas said, you're probably wondering for what reason I called you here. Well, I've been testing a device that classifies Pokémon. It's called—"

"—The Pokedex. Yes, Professor; this isn't new."

The professor looked at Cheren—the one who had spoken out—with disdain, then opened her mouth to speak once more.

"As you said, this isn't new. My grandfather, Professor Oak, was the one who created this cool technological wonder. Professor Elm from Johto also helped. After a few other professors from other regions, it's finally my turn to help evolve this technological masterpiece. It's close to the original, but it does have a few other capabilities. For example, it will run off of cellphone towers, and you can also synch data with other users. It has a few other uses too and there will be future add-ons. Right honey?"

She turned to a man standing in a doorway just to the right of the main doorway behind us. He looked up, surprised, but nodded.

"Yeah, we intend to have a lot of cool features for this thing. As of now, there's a GPS, a phone, a clock, a bank, and video chat functionality; on top of things my wife mentioned, of course." Cedric, motioned to his wife to keep going.

"Thank you. Now…" She turned around and picked up the three devices on the workbench behind her. "Are you guys willing to take the challenge?"

Her back was still towards us, but we nodded anyway. Cheren was the one to realize that she wasn't hearing our heads rattle, so he answered, "Yes."

Bianca and I quickly followed suit and the professor turned back around.

"Hold out your hands then," she commanded, and we did as instructed.

She placed a small, red electronic the size of a children's book into our hands. It looked like it had a touch screen, and so I tapped it. Nothing happened. I looked over at Cheren, who had slid up on the flat surface. His screen showed a menu with eight icons. I looked back at my device and slid up. The same menu appeared, only his background color was black whereas mine was grey.

I tapped on the first one; Pokedex. A circle of grass appeared and an Oshawatt dropped onto it, bouncing as it hit. Some white text appeared in the top-right corner: "Osawatt – Water Pokémon."

It had some skills and attacks it could learn, as well as a small description. I looked past it and hit an arrow button in the bottom-middle of the screen. A shadow of a Tepig appeared where the Oshawatt had been. The text now read: "Tepig – Fire Pokémon." Below the text below it said, "Stats and skills, unknown."

I pressed the same arrow again and this time a Snivy's shadow appeared. The same text appeared under, "Snivy – Grass Pokémon." I shrugged and backed out of the Pokedex area and looked at the rest of the options. I didn't need GPS since I knew where I was, I didn't need to Phone or Video Call anyone, didn't need the Clock…however, synching with Cheren and Bianca seemed like a great idea.

"Hey guys, why don't we try synching?" I suggested, and the two looked at me. But then Bianca exited to her menu, which had a white background, and then clicked synch. I did the same. However, Cheren didn't. I looked at him questioningly and he shook his head.

"I don't need your guys' help. I'll fill all of the spots by myself." He shut off his Pokedex and walked towards the door. "Call when there's an update," he said at the professor, then walked out without a reply.

I shrugged, then looked at my Pokedex's screen to see that it had finished synching with Bianca. I exited and tapped the Pokedex icon on the main menu. Sure enough, Tepig showed up on the screen where the shadow had previously been. I looked up at the professor.

"So, why didn't you just add all the Pokémon so that they show up all at once?" I asked, curious to know why I had to do so much work even though the Pokedex has been handed out for the previous generations. I mean, why can't we have all but the next 150 filled out already? That seemed way simpler than to have one kid fill every single slot 5 times over. Professor Juniper had a simple, if not disheartening answer.

"Well, that would take all the fun out of going out to see and catch the Pokémon, now wouldn't it?" She said with a voice overflowing with mischief.

"Doesn't the synch function do that enough already?" I countered.

Professor Juniper blushed as she looked at Bianca. "I put that feature in for Bianca more than you or Cheren. However, there are some Pokémon that you can't Synch, but I'll let you find those for yourself," She whispered in my ear.

"Alright then." I turned to Bianca, satisfied. "Well, you ready to go?"

"Yep!"

We turned around and headed for the door. "Thanks, professor," I called behind me as we stepped out.

The first place we went was to Route 2, the only real exit out of town. Cheren was already there, a piece of grass sticking out of his mouth.

"So you couldn't leave without us, huh?"

"I can't be too heartless, can I?" He said this jokingly, but I could hear a little bit of seriousness in his tone. "Well, let's do this like we did the professor's house." He took Bianca's hand in one hand and mine in the other. "Ready? 1…2…3…STEP."

And in that instance, we all exited Nuvema Town at the same time.

**AN:**

**I know, it's Ms. Frizzle, not Ms. Frazzle-Dazzle. I was trying to be funny.**

**Sorry it's been so long and only three chapters have been posted, I'm doing my best to work on this one now; it seems too good to go to waste.**

**This chapter….it only took a long time because I kept procrastinating. I was able to write a lot of it in a couple of hours, which kinda makes me feel like I wish I had done so sooner.**

**Anyway, I'll see you guys later!**

**Quick Update (10/15/2013): Changed "Tohya" to "Thomas" and made some small additions and changes**


	4. Start The Adventure!

We looked around, taking in the green of Route 1. Bushes ran in a straight line across the horizon, looking like it would stop us from moving on to Accumula Town.

"Wow," Bianca exclaimed as she followed a flock of Unpheasants as they flew across the sky. She took a few steps towards the bushes and twirled to look at everything in a 180 degree view. The professor came up behind us.

"It's pretty cool, isn't it? Going off on a new adventure in a foreign land; it's…adventurous!"

I whirled around, startled at her sudden appearance. Cheren just pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"My dear professor, you're being a bit redundant."

"Yes, I know. I've been staying up late lately coming up with new Pokémon names, so don't be too harsh. Anyway…" She paused as she tried to change the subject. "I'm going to teach you how to catch a Pokémon. First, step into this tall grass."

To demonstrate, she entered some grass about waist high, sending some scared Lillipups and Patrats skittering around in the grass. One brave Lillipup ran up to her, bent its front legs menacingly, and growled. I saw the professor smirk as she brought out a Pokeball from her PokeBelt.

"Let's go, Minccino," the professor said in a small, smooth voice as she tossed the capsule towards the Pokémon. The Minccino popped out in a flash of red, and I saw the Lillipup back up a little. However, it quickly recovered and only growled louder.

"Alright, Minccino. Let's use tackle." The Minccino seemed to disappear as it sprang towards the young dog. Milliseconds later, the puppy flew back and skidded on the ground, flattening some of the jungle-esque grass. Before the dog could recover, the professor whipped out another Pokeball and threw it at the hurt Lillipup.

The red light snaked out, encompassing the puppy and bringing it inside the ball. The ball landed on the ground, bounced, then twitched once, twice, three times. The middle circle turned red, and the professor walked over and picked the ball up.

"See? It's just that easy." She handed the Pokeball containing Lillipup to Bianca, then turned to her Minccino. "Return." The Minccino returned to the red and white ball as the professor stood in front of us, her hand on her hip. "I'll meet you at Accumula Town. I have more things to show you, but for now you're on your own. Ciao~." She waved her fingers as we stood, still processing what all had happened in those few seconds.

Bianca was the first to recover and turned to Cheren and I. "Hey, do you guys want to have a contest?" she asked eagerly when the Professor was gone.

"What kind of contest?" Cheren asked, squinting his eyes, not sure if he was going to get into something he would consider stupid or not. Bianca smiled.

"It'll be a competition to catch the most Pokémon." She said, beaming as if it were the best idea in the world. Cheren half stared, half frowned at the girl, who had missed something really obvious.

"Um, Bianca," I pitched in, catching what Cheren was thinking. "You've technically already won." She whipped her head to face me, confused.

"What do you mean?" She asked, not catching up with Cheren and I.

"The Professor hasn't given us any Pokeballs, and she gave _you_ the Lillipup she caught. That means you have two Pokémon whereas Thomas and I only have the one we got at the Professor's lab." Cheren said, answering for me. "We can't catch any until we get to Accumula Town simply because we have nothing to catch the Pokémon with." He said, finishing his thought before either Bianca or I could say anything.

"Well, we do have _one_ thing." I put in. This time it was Cheren's turn to look at me with confusion. I held out my arms, waving my hands for attention. "We've got these." Cheren sighed as he gave me a glare with enough ice to freeze the sun. "Well it's true," I muttered.

Cheren just shook his head. "Whatever, I don't care about the stupid competition anyway," he said, starting to wade through the grass and move away from us. Bianca looked at the ground, disheartened. I put my arm around her to console her.

"It's alright," I said, as she raised her head to meet my eyes with hers. When she was finally looking in my eyes I gave her a reassuring grin. "I can't promise much, but I'll play." I heard Cheren give a loud sigh as he turned around.

"Okay, fine. Release the Pokémon the professor gave you." He said walking up to us, obviously impatient. Bianca released her Tepig, and I just got out Oshawatt's Pokeball. "Now give me the 'Balls." Bianca and I obeyed.

Cheren turned around, just like he had when he healed the Pokémon. A few seconds later he turned around and handed the Pokeballs back to us. We took them and glanced them over. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"They're no longer tied to that Pokémon," Cheren explained. "Essentially; you can catch other Pokémon with them now."

Bianca smiled. "Thanks Cheren," She said, then dashed off into the grass, her little fiery pig following her. "C'mon Thomas, let's go catch a few Pokémon!" She shouted back behind her.

I started walking, ensuring that my little water otter was following behind. As I waded through the unkempt grass, I heard more skitters of whatever Lillipups had stayed behind. As I took one more step I heard a growl come from almost underneath me. Shocked, I backed up to find I had almost stepped on one of the small dogs.

I hesitated for a second before commanding my Oshawatt. "Oshawatt, use Tackle!" The little water Pokémon sprinted for the Lillipup, which dodged with plenty of room to spare. I cursed before commanding my little otter to use Tackle again. The attack hit this time, but the dog looked barely hurt. I grimaced, cursing the wild Pokémon that looked to be really strong. But then the Lillipup took a step towards my Oshawatt and I noticed a small limp. It gave me new hope.

"Oshawatt, Water Gun!" The otter took a millisecond to get the attack ready and I noticed a small hesitation in the wild Lillipup's stature, along with a small uncertainty and regret in its eyes. The attack hit and the Lillipup fell over.

Oh no, was it dead? I thought Pokémon were essentially immortal. Maybe it's different for wild Pokémon? But slowly, the blue streaks of light reached up towards the sky; a sign that the Pokémon had just fainted. However, that meant that I wasn't able to catch it. The damn government made it pretty much impossible to catch a Pokémon without its consent.

Apparently, Pokémon have the same rights as humans do; at least, that's what I've heard my mom say when she's talking about Pokémon. The Pokémon have the right to refuse a Pokeball and the reason why you have to fight them is to win their trust. If you throw a Pokeball too soon, the Pokémon will fight, and will usually break free.

The one loophole that no one has figured out is the reason why the government allows you to catch a sleeping Pokémon. After all, what's the difference between a fainted Pokémon and a sleeping one? Unfortunately, the government has kept that information to itself, and I doubted no one from the outside would learn the secret anytime soon.

I looked at the spot where the fainted Lillipup had been, then shrugged. "Alright Oshawatt, let's keep going." Without a word the little monster gathered behind me and we started walking down Route 1.

The route was filled with new trainers and I ignored them the best I could. Finally one popped out from the grass, which was easy for her to do as she was no more than a child. She grinned at me with a holey smile—she had lost a few baby teeth it seemed—and held up a Pokeball. I rolled my eyes in frustration.

"Alright mister, I'll send out my super-special-awesome Purrloin!" She tossed the Pokeball and a red light snaked out, leaving a small, purple cat washing its paw and foreleg. The Purrloin noticed that it was outside of its home and stopped its bath, cocking its head to one side to study us.

"Meow?" It let out as it looked back at the little girl.

"Alright, use Tackle, okay?" The little girl goaded the cat excitedly. The Pokémon did nothing, just sat there. "Purrloin." The girl's voice was low and had a warning tone. "I said use Tackle." The cat still sat there, much to the frustration of the little girl.

"Um, miss…Purrloins have Scratch as their base attack, not Tackle." I had reached this conclusion just seconds ago. I myself thought it strange that the Purrloin didn't attack, and I went through what my teacher had taught me in Pokémon Basics. It wasn't till I realized that the claws were better for attacking than a normal tackle that it hit me.

The girl's face turned red in embarrassment. "Purrloin, use Scratch," she commanded correctly this time. The purple feline jumped up and made a beeline towards Oshawatt, who was very inconveniently behind me.

"Oshawatt, Dodge," I yelled, before jumping to the side myself. The skittering grass behind me gave me relief to know that my otter had gotten out of the way in time.

"Alright, use Bubble Beam," I commanded my Pokémon. The creature stared at me blankly. You're kidding; he can use Water Gun, but he can't use Bubble Beam?! What kind of…no, I had to think. Oshawatt looked at me, as I heard the little girl call out some attack. I shook my head, before my eyes landed on the shell on the blue otter's belly.

"Oshawatt, use Razor Shell!" I cried, and my little water Pokémon went into action. It sidestepped, pulled the shell from its stomach, and slashed all in the same motion. The Purrloin took a few steps before collapsing. The red light from the Pokeball snaked out and retrieved the fainted kitty.

The little girl looked horrified and dropped to her knees. The red and white sphere containing the now fainted Purrloin dropped to the ground. Tears welled at the youngster's eyes and she quickly covered her face in her hands.

"It's all over," she sobbed. "I was only out for a day and already it's over." A knot formed in my throat. I slowly walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.

"I'm sorry." I wasn't sure if she'd believe me, but I said it anyway. She looked up at me with contempt.

"Yeah right." She had anger, pain, and sadness all in her face. I made another move to try to comfort her, tell her that she was really young and she still had her life ahead of her before she got up and ran away from me. I looked down and saw the Pokeball just sitting there.

"Hey wait!" I yelled, picking up the ball. "You forgot your Purrloin!" There was no answer. Oh well, might as well keep it.

* * *

><p>Quick Edit (1015/2013): Changed "Tohya" to "Thomas" and made some very minor edits.


	5. Learn About The PokeCenters!

I waded through more grass, but found no sign of any life and therefore gave up, deciding to cut my losses and move on to Accumula Town with the unfairly achieved Purrloin still in my party. As I drew nearer to Accumula Town, I saw a lone figure standing at the edge of the establishment. It had a calm and collected pose; balanced on one leg with a hand in its pocket. I assumed it was Cheren.

I drew closer still to find that my assumption was correct. Cheren stood, waiting for Bianca and I to arrive. It was him. He's a pretty cold person most of the time, but even I'll admit he has his moments. This was definitely one of them.

I strode up and stood alongside him. We sat in silence for a second before I brought the Pokeball holding Purrloin up to chest height. Cheren looked at it, and I gave him a second before flipping my wrist up to toss the red and white sphere towards him. He started as he moved to catch it. I grinned devilishly at his lack of character in trying to catch a Pokeball.

"What's this?" He asked suspiciously while eyeing the sphere I had thrown him.

"Your new partner," I replied coolly, trying to be sly. He took his eyes off of the Pokeball in his hand and turned them towards me. He squinted, probably trying to see what I meant by that.

"I told you, I'm not interested in the contest." He was about to toss the Purrloin back, but I held my hands out to stop him.

"It's fair this way; we all have two Pokémon now." It was a lie, I knew, but I hoped he wouldn't see through it. He gave me a look of disbelief.

"Thomas, you only had one Pokeball." He gestured at me with the ball in his hand. "How could _you_ have two Pokémon if you gave me this one?" He had a point, and I had no counter. Yes, I had an empty Pokeball on me, but it held no Pokémon. Regardless, I tried to use it to bluff my way out.

I held out Oshawatt's old Pokeball and Cheren looked at it, then at the ball in his own hand. Finally he reluctantly put the ball in his pocket. As he did so, Bianca came up from behind us, bouncing like her usual self.

"It took a while, but I finally gave up," she panted. "Those Pokémon sure are fast! I couldn't catch up with any of them." She turned back to us. "So how many did you catch?"

Cheren held up the Pokeball I gave him and I showed my empty Pokeball. I saw Oshawatt frown and shake his head in disapproval, but the others didn't seem to notice.

"We've all got two!" She exclaimed excitedly. "How about we have another battle…you know, to show off our new Pokémon."

Cheren pushed his glasses up on his nose and said, "That sounds okay to me." I shook my head and took a step towards Accumula Town.

"Nah, I'm gonna go to the PokeCenter. I'll meet you guys there." I took another step, and even though I heard Bianca's verbal objection, I met no resistance.

"Alright, see you there," I heard Cheren say. A couple seconds, and steps, later, I heard the sound of a Pokémon leaving its red and white capsule and heard, "Wait a minute….Beryl?!" I didn't turn around, but I heard the sound of running footsteps on grass behind me.

Cheren passed me, turned around, and put his hands on my shoulders. His face was a mixture of anger and confusion. "Thomas, how did you get this Pokeball?"

I had no reason to keep it a secret any longer. I shrugged as I explained "A little girl dropped it. I beat her and she said something about her career as a Pokémon trainer being over."

The anger flushed away from Cheren's face and was replaced by sadness. "This was my sister's Pokémon," he muttered after a second of silence. "I gave it to her before I left."

I shrugged. "Look man, I'm sorry. I tried to give it back to her, but she wouldn't stop running. It's better with you anyway." I took his hands off of my shoulders and sidestepped around him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue on my way to the PokeCenter." I saw Cheren nod out of the corner of my eye, and I resumed entering the small town that lay before me.

The PokeCenter was the second building on the right. It had a vague similarity to the chapels in ancient Europe, but only half the size. The glass that covered the building glinted in the light. I walked through the front doors, also glass of course, and approached the young woman behind the desk.

"Hello and welcome to the Pokémon Center." She said with a smile. "We can rest your Pokémon here in our state-of-the-art facility. Do you wish to rest your Pokémon now?"

I nodded, then picked Oshawatt up from under his front legs, and held him out to the girl, his body dangling underneath him. She squinted at him in confusion, blinked twice to make sure the image in front of her was real, and turned her gaze to me.

"Um, sir…does your Oshawatt have a Pokeball?" She sounded a little flustered, almost as if she didn't know what to do with a Pokémon without a Pokeball. I myself didn't know what to do in this situation. I moved Oshawatt between my hand and my chest, freeing one hand, and took out the "extra" Pokeball that used to be Oshawatt's.

"Well, there's this one….but it's not, erm, coded to him anymore." I fumbled my words and blushed a little, not knowing what to do or say in this situation. I wasn't trained in how Pokeballs worked at all; all I knew was that it was able to hold one Pokémon, no matter how large or powerful.

"What do you mean, 'coded?'" She looked and sounded as confused as I felt.

"Uh, yeah, I don't know either…um, let me try something." I set Oshawatt on the counter and said, "Oshawatt, Return!"

The red light snaked out from the ball and enveloped my Pokémon, surprising me. I gathered myself enough to put the Pokeball on the counter and the nurse picked it up and put it on a machine in the back.

Cheren had said that I would be able to catch another Pokémon with that Pokeball…did he lie? I decided to confront him later. As I made this decision, the nurse held Oshawatt's Pokeball out to me. I took it, saying "thank you," and turned to see a shop near the entrance that I had missed.

I approached the counter and saw Pokeballs behind the cashier. He looked up at me and smiled.

"Hello sir, is there anything I can help you with?" The cashier asked as I came to a stop just in front of the counter.

"I'd like 5 Pokeballs please," I ordered. I was holding up five fingers, which I would guess was just me trying to enforce the number on the guy behind the counter.

"Certainly, that'll be 1000 Pokedollars." I pulled out my wallet, grabbed one of the four one thousand PD notes, and exchanged the money for the five red and white spheres. I stuck them in my belt as I turned to walk towards the door.

That was when Cheren and Bianca chose to walk in, Professor Juniper behind them. I was shocked for a few seconds at the appearance of the Professor.

"I forgot that I was going to show you all around the Pokecenter," she explained, probably seeing my confusion. "I see that you've already sort of acquainted yourself with the PokeStore portion. You're able to buy Pokeballs and Medicine there, as well as other items helpful for battles."

She moved on to the counter where I had encountered, and flustered, the young woman earlier. "This is the Nurse's Desk. This young, pretty lady behind the counter here is Nurse Joyce. She'll take your Pokémon for a quick second and will get them all rested and healed." She pointed to a computer next to her. "This is a general use computer. If your Pokedex is having issues or you need to look something up…anything, you are able to use this computer. A word of warning; be sure to log out of any social network sites you log into." She gave a wry smile as she added that last note.

She walked towards the door, then stopped and turned around because of an afterthought. "I know it's a little late, but I forgot to give these to you." She approached Bianca, giving her 10 Pokeballs. She moved on to me, and finally Cheren, giving us all the same amount. After she was done, she walked towards the door, turned back towards us and yelled "Good luck on your adventure!"

If we weren't the only ones in the building, I'd probably be embarrassed, but I just waved instead. Bianca turned to me once the Professor exited through the doors.

"So what other Pokémon did you get, Thomas? Cheren got a Purrloin, and I got the Lillipup Professor Juniper gave me. Did you get one of those, or did you get another Pokémon?"

I grimaced. I didn't have any other Pokémon, and I had lied to Cheren in order to get him to take the Purrloin. I finally just held Oshawatt's Pokeball in my upward palm in front of me. "This is all I've got," I reluctantly forced out. "I didn't catch any other Pokémon out there."

Both Cheren and Bianca looked at me with shocked expressions. "You mean you didn't have another Pokémon?" Cheren finally asked, breaking the silence. I just shook my head in response. Cheren looked away from me and muttered something that I thought sounded like "liar." I would have felt fine if he hadn't have said that, but instead I also looked to the side, feeling disgusted with myself. I heard a sniff come from Bianca and I looked to see tears streaming down her face.

"H-hey, come on now, it was just a harmless fib. Kind of like Cheren's…you know, about being able to catch new Pokémon with our starter Pokémon's Pokeballs." I glared at Cheren and saw him look up at me in alarm.

"That wasn't a lie. You should have been able to catch other Pokémon." He said defensively.

"Then how come Oshawatt entered the ball easily when I recalled him to his ball?" I retorted. Cheren just gave me an icy stare.

"Thomas," he shook his head. "That didn't mean it was impossible to catch other Pokémon with it, it was still linked with Oshawatt as its first choice. I'm guessing it didn't blink when you recalled him?" I nodded. "If you had truly tried to catch another Pokémon, as you lied about doing, it would have caught the other Pokémon like a normal Pokeball. It's just that since it was still linked to its original Pokémon, it was still able to contain it like normal."

With that, Cheren pushed his glasses up on his nose to signify that he was done. I felt kind of stupid since his explanation seemed sound. I hung my head a little. "Sorry about that then," I mumbled.

"So are we just going to stand around here, or are we going to be moving on?" Bianca was at the door, halfway across the building from us. I smiled, remembering that we were supposed to be on a journey and nodded.

"Yeah, alright; we'll be right there." I called, then looked at Cheren. "You ready?"

He tilted his head. "As much as you are," he replied. I thought I heard a little challenge in his voice.

"Then let's do this." And with that, I headed towards the door.

* * *

><p><strong>AN – Wow, 2000 words. I know, this chapter is kind of anime-ish, but I need to have <strong>**_some_**** kind of character development. Anyway, if you enjoyed it, review. If you didn't enjoy it, review and tell me why. Next chapter should introduce N, who I think will be fun to write for…once I get his personality down.**

**Speaking of, if you think a character is OOC, go ahead and let me know. This story is only slightly a parody; it's mainly just how I think Pokémon would be like in a realistic setting (like being able to Fly ANYWHERE).**

**Also, in case you missed it, the main character was renamed from Tohya to Thomas to fit in with the full English setting.**


End file.
